Alchymist (89 page)

His
mouth opened and closed, and Tiaan could see the calculations running. He'd
been manipulated from the beginning, all unknowing. Panic flared in his eyes
but he controlled it and turned away.

Yggur
took his place, and to Tiaan he seemed equally forbidding. 'May I ask what that
dispute was about?' he said pleasantly.

'It
seems that Gilhaelith chose to live in Alcifer, under the protection of the
lyrinx, and I've ruined his life's work.'

Yggur
frowned. 'Is that so? I'd hate to think I've allowed a cuckoo into my nest.
What is his life's work?'

'To
master geomancy and understand all the forces that move and shape the world.'

'To
what end?'

'He
maintains it's for the noblest purpose of all — simply to understand the
material world — but Gilhaelith has a compulsion to control everything around
him.'

A
dangerous man. You'd better tell me everything you know about Gilhaelith,
Tiaan.'

The
air-floater flew directly to Hripton, setting down outside the healer's house.
Nish, Irisis and Flangers carried Flydd in. He was still breathing, though his
chest barely moved and his lips were blue.

'What's
the matter with him?' asked the healer, a woman of advanced years with a
dowager's hump and white hair so thin that Irisis could see her scalp through
it.

She
explained as best she could without giving away any secrets. The healer lifted
Flydd's shirt and drew in a sharp breath at the sight of his emaciated chest,
practically bare of flesh, and the ancient scars crisscrossing his body. She
laid hands on him, up and down. They turned him over and she did the same for
his back.

'Something
is damaged inside,' she said to Irisis. 'In his belly.'

'Is
he going to die?' said Nish, who'd been silent for hours. He looked shattered.

'He
may,' said the healer. 'Tonight will tell. He's dangerously ill.'

'Are
there medicines? Potions? Herbs?' said Irisis. 'I have coin enough—'

'It's
not a matter of coin,' replied the healer. 'He'll have the best treatment I can
give, and besides, it will be to Fiz Gorgo's account. After that it will be up
to him. Go now.'

But I
want to sit by him,' said Irisis.

I
can't work with people looking on. His life is wasting while I'm talking to
you. Come back in the morning.'

They
went out to the air-floater. 'You can fly,' Irisis said to Nish and Flangers.
'I'm going to walk. I need to think.'

Nish
began to say something, searched her face then plodded across to the machine.
He was taking it hard and Irisis could not comfort him. She just had to be
alone. She headed down the road into the darkness.

Flangers
spoke to Nish and Inouye, then the air-floater lifted off without him.

Alone,'
said Irisis. 'That means by myself.'

You
can't walk back by yourself at night. It's not safe.'

Flangers
eased his sword in its scabbard.

"In
the mood I'm in, I could take on a lyrinx with either hand. All right,
Flangers, but don't talk to me.'

They
paced side by side along the rutted track that wound along the side of the bay
towards Fiz Gorgo. It was so dark that they could not see each other. The many
potholes were full of muddy water. She tramped through them, oblivious. Irisis could
think of nothing but Flydd in that dingy little room, probably dying — and for
what?

They
passed by a pungent field of turnips, and another that reeked of freshly spread
manure, before the track turned along the tidal flats. The tide was low and the
strand stank of rotting seaweed and decaying fish.

'Flangers?'
she said after they'd gone a good league.

'Yes,
Irisis?'

'What
if he dies? What are we going to do?'

'I'll
be asking you to release me from my promise.'

'Does
your honour mean so much to you?'

'I
betrayed my oath, Irisis.'

She
moved closer, taking his arm. 'He's a good man, Flangers. Without him, we're
lost.'

'Do
you love him?'

'As a
friend and a guide.'

'I
can't think of anyone better to have beside me in a dark hour' said Flangers.

'Have
you spoken to him?'

'What
about?'

'Shooting
down the air-floater.'

'How
could I bother him about such a trivial thing?'

'It's
your life, Flangers! He'd be angry if he knew you'd kept silent.'

'He'll
never hear it from me. The scrutator will have enough problems of his own, if
he recovers.'

'He'll
hear from me the instant he's well enough.'

'No!'
he cried.

Then
I'll tell him. If you don't, I will.'

He
did not reply. They trudged another league or two and, long after midnight, saw
the gate lanterns of Fiz Gorgo in the distance. 'Flangers?'

All
right; he said softly. 'I'll speak to him, once he's well enough.'

'You
think he's going to die, don't you.' 'We're all going to die.'

Irisis
rose before dawn, roused Inouye out of bed and they rotored back to Hripton.
Irisis leapt out of the air-floater before it touched the ground and ran
inside. Flydd's bed was empty. Her heart froze over. She stood there, staring
down at his small indentation in the mattress.

'It's
not what you think.' The healer had come in silently and the pouches under her
eyes were like black bruises. She'd been up all night. 'I've moved him out the
back. It's warmer there.'

'How
is he?'

'A
little better, though there's still some bleeding inside. He's not out of
danger yet.'

'Can
I see him?'

'Just
for a minute.'

She
led Irisis out to the back room. Flydd lay on the stretcher, staring blankly at
the ceiling. He was so still that she thought he must have died after all, but
then his eyes moved.

'You're
an idiot; she said fondly, taking his hand. 'Why did you go, when you'd done
yourself such harm? You could have stayed behind.'

'I
didn't realise I'd hurt myself.' His voice was like a breeze blowing through
gossamer. 'When Yggur took over the little flier I felt a sharp pain in my
belly, but it went away.'

'Why
did you have to resist him? You're an overly proud man, Xervish.'

'I
admit to a certain . . , rivalry,' he said hoarsely, 'but do you really think
me so shallow? He asked me to fight him to he limit of my strength. It had to
be a true test, otherwise he would not have known that he could take over the
thapter when the time came.'

'That
doesn't make up for his neglect of you,' she snapped. 'I meant what I said up
there, Irisis- I would have done the same, even had it been you. What else
could any good leader do? Would you not sacrifice one or two people, if by
doing so you would be saving the whole of humanity?'

'I
could not sacrifice my friends,' she said stubbornly. 'Not even for the sake of
humanity.'

'That's
the trouble with being a leader. You're always sacrificing someone. Or
something.' He closed his eyes.

'Come
away now,' said the healer. 'You can see him again tomorrow. He's got the
constitution of a lyrinx. Two hours ago I'd have sworn he was dead, but he's
looking better already.'

On
her return, Irisis shook Nish awake. 'The healer thinks he's going to be all
right.'

Nish
sat up, rubbing red crusted eyes. He clutched her hands in silent thanks.

'You
look as though you've had a hard night, Nish.' Despite only having a few hours'
sleep she was as immaculate, and as beautiful, as ever.

'I've
been having trouble sleeping lately. Flydd has been so good to me, Irisis. A
hundred times he could have sent me to the front-lines for my follies, but he
never did. He believed in me. Without him I'd be nothing. I couldn't face the
thought of him dying.'

'Nor
I — he's the anchor of all our lives. And our only hope. Come on, let's get
some breakfast. I'm starving.'

They
were walking down the corridor side by side when Tiaan turned the corner,
coming the other way. She stopped dead, looking from Nish to Irisis in dismay.

Irisis
had last seen Tiaan at the manufactory almost a year ago, just before she'd
been diagnosed with incurable crystal fever and sent to the breeding factory.
That, Irisis was ashamed to recall, had been partly due to her own scheming
'What are you doing here?' Tiaan was trembling like a plucked wire.

'We
came with Xervish Flydd, the scrutator' said Irisis. Tiaan relaxed a little.
'Where is he?' She looked ready to bolt.

'He's
being treated by a healer. He's very ill.' 'Was that you flying the construct,
Tiaan?' asked Nish. He took a step towards her and put out his hand,
tentatively. 'Let me say how sorry—'

Tiaan
backed away a step, her eyes darting from one to the other.

We're
on the same side, Tiaan,' said Irisis. 'We—' 'You betrayed me, both of you,'
Tiaan hissed. 'Don't come near me.' She turned and headed back the way she had
come, almost running.

'I
suppose that was only to be expected,' said Irisis, not overly perturbed. 'A
pity, though, since we'll have to work together.'

'Yes,'
said Nish, staring after Tiaan. 'A great pity.'

Nish's
unrequited passion for Tiaan had begun the whole affair, Irisis remembered as
they continued down the hall. Surely he didn't still nurture some feeling for
her? Even if he did, it couldn't come to anything. She was no more suited to
him than Ullii had been. Irisis bit her tongue in case she spoke without
thinking, as was her wont. Nish was hers and he would realise it sooner or
later. In the meantime she would watch over him, enjoy his friendship and say
nothing about her own feelings. She would be patience itself. She might have to
be.

Flydd
was well enough to attend when they held their morning meeting two days later,
though he had to be carried inside in his chair. The others present were
Malien, Gilhaelith, Fyn-Mah, Tiaan, Irisis and Nish.

'I'm
pleased to see you're better, Flydd,' said Yggur, 'though I didn't expect—'

'The
council is sorely in need of my wisdom,' Flydd said with an ironical twitch of
the mouth.

'I
dare say,' Yggur answered, equally dryly. 'I salute your courage, Scrutator. I
was wrong about you and I'm happy to admit it.'

'And
I you, it seems. We'll best the enemy yet, Lord Yggur.'

Yggur
quirked his lips but did not correct him. He turned to face the room. 'I begin
without preamble. Faced with a resurgent enemy, and held back by a corrupt
Council of Scrutators, humanity's situation is almost hopeless. But we've been
debating, Flydd and I, what can be done. Would you care to set out our ideas,
Scrutator.'

'I
find I'm a little short of breath at the moment.'

Nish
laughed. Irisis elbowed him in the ribs.

'We
propose a simple plan,' said Yggur. 'We have neither the people, nor the
resources, for anything else, and even this plan may be beyond us. But now that
we have a thapter — or, should I say, since it belongs to Malien, the
possibility of one -we may at least attempt it.'

'What
is the plan?' growled Gilhaelith.

'To
fly secretly to Nennifer, the scrutators' fortress that lies between the Great
Mountains and the Desolation Sink. There to overthrow the Council of Scrutators
and replace them with a body dedicated to winning the war, since it appears
peace is not an option with the lyrinx.'

Gilhaelith
began to laugh.

Yggur
fixed him with a glare that would have stopped a volcanic eruption. 'If you
don't share our objectives, you may leave this council. You will, of course, be
kept in close confinement until the attack succeeds.'

He
signalled with a finger to the back of the room, and Nish saw that, for the
first time, a pair of armed guards waited inside the doors.

'Or
fails,' scoffed Gilhaelith. 'Nennifer is the most closely guarded fortress in
the world and you couldn't take it with an army of twenty thousand.'

'Rumour
is the enemy of initiative,' said Yggur. 'Xervish Flydd spent years in Nennifer
and knows every part of it including its defences.'

'All
but those installed since my departure five years ago.' Flydd qualified, 'and
they could be many and various. Even if there are no new defences, this would
be the most desperate venture in the Great Tales.' A spasm wracked him and he
broke off to cough into a kerchief. 'The impregnable walls are guarded by two
thousand men, hundreds of mancers and any number of bloody devices. Against
such forces, we can bring no more than a dozen people, and Nennifer lies in the
most inhospitable environment in the world. There's no cover of any kind. No
food, no water, no shelter. And even in summer it's freezing outside at night.'